


Dreaming Deception

by bug_from_space



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: ALbus/Gellert is only minor, AU, Albus goes to Azkaban, Angst, Angst and Feels, Azkaban, M/M, Psychological Trauma, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8180758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bug_from_space/pseuds/bug_from_space
Summary: An AU where Albus goes to Azkaban after he is convicted for Ariana's murder.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Please note this is not happy, read at your own risk, but enjoy!

A gray box, Albus thought to himself, no that wasn’t right, it was a cell, his own personal hell. The guards didn’t seem to care though, pushing Albus into the cell they locked the door. He had been accused of his sister’s murder, and sentenced to Azkaban, all in the course of six months of leaving Hogwarts his entire life had been changed, destroyed. His mother was dead, his best friend was nowhere in the country, Gellert was gone, his brother hated him and his sister was dead, and now, he was in Azkaban. Perhaps everything would eventually work out.

~~

“Mr. Dumbledore?” the deputy headmaster asked him. Albus glanced up from the book he was reading, while waiting. “Yes, have you reached a conclusion?” he returned. “You’ve been accepted to become the new transfiguration professor.” Albus smiled politely, “Thank you, I’ll be back for the first day of term then.” Walking back to Hogsmeade he turned to go towards his small apartment.

~~

Aberforth looked at his brother through the bars of his cell. Albus seemed aware he was there, though in a distant sort of way. The guards had said he had gone mad, envisioning himself in a different life, away from the cold walls of the prison. A sort of way for the human mind to avoid trauma, Aberforth hadn’t believed them when they told him, his brother had always been to sensible, of course that was before Azkaban.

~~

“Students today your goal is to transfigure your pincushion into a hedgehog.” He told his 5th years. Demonstrating the spell he picked up the small creature showing it to the class. Setting it back in the box, he performed the counter spell, the hedgehog turning back into a pincushion. His class giggled as they tried the spell with varying degrees of success.

~~

Elphias visited 1903, the year after Aberforth had, finally returned from his trip around the world. He listened as Albus seemed perfectly happy, muttering the words to a transfiguration spell under his breath. He had heard that Albus had gone mad. He watched for a few more minutes before Albus glanced at him and smiled. “Elphias, I hadn’t expected you back so soon, a pleasure to see you as always though” he said waving at nothing. It seemed that Albus though he was in an office. “I heard there was a problem, so I came back immediately” Elphias lied. Albus seemed to understand though. “Yes the nasty business with the murders” he responded, as though this was a perfectly normal place to be. Elphias didn’t stay long after that. 

~~

“Gellert! We don’t have to fight!” Albus yelled across the battleground. The blonde turned looking at him. Silver hair gleaming along with the blonde in the smoky air. “There is no second option, Dumbledore” He called back. Firing a stunning spell at Gellert, Albus walked towards him. “We don’t have too, just come with me” he said. Gellert laughed, a familiar sound. “Do you really believe that?” he asked, as he fired a hex at Albus.

~~

Sometimes the guards would mention the war going on outside, the people that had died, or joined Grindelwald. Sometimes Albus would notice, most of the time though the words just got filtered into his mind. It was worse in his moments of clarity, when he was aware of what was going on around him. Part of him dimly aware that there was nothing he could do. He never said anything though, always just listened. Sometimes Elphias would visit, and tell him what was going on in the world; sometimes Albus seemed surprised to hear, and other times it was like he already knew. Aberforth only visited twice more. Part of him knew his brother wasn’t there, but he still wanted to see him, after all Albus was the only family he had left. Most of the time though Albus was caught up in his head, too little of him left to really know what’s going on. 

~~

“Tom, you could be great, you're already one of the top students” Albus tells the Slytherin. Tom looks at him surprised, but smiled nevertheless. “Thank you, professor.” he responded, before exiting the classroom. Albus sighed, after the boy left. ‘If only’ he thought to himself, before starting to mark essays.

~~

The last time Aberforth visits he looks at his brother sadly, and tells him of the war still going on outside, people trying to stop Grindelwald. Albus looks surprised at that. He also tells of the brilliant students Hogwarts has, and how some of them might be able to finally stop him, in particular a young Slytherin named Tom Riddle. 

When Elphias visits next he tells of the death of the young boy, whom Aberforth had hoped would stop Gellert, tells him of the changing world. Elphias visits only one more time after that. He knows from the time he leaves he won’t go back. He’d spent to long watching Albus Dumbledore’s sanity slowly crumbling, his grip on reality, and stages of clarity become less frequent, and more fuzzy. 

~~

“Please Severus” he asks the man who he had come to trust, he sees as Severus tries to form sentences, before he finally asks why? He answers and explains his reasoning. Severus nods, before casting the spell that sends Albus off the edge of the astronomy tower. The wind rushes past him, and right before he hits the ground he think ‘Finally’.

~~

The last time Albus enters a complete stage of clarity it’s when the guards have entered his cell to give him food. Albus looks at them confused for a moment before asking where he is. “You-” the guard starts. “Your entire life was-” he pauses for a moment. “All in your head” he finishes. A sense of realization dawns on him as he eats. He cries himself to sleep that night, eyes tracing patterns on the ceiling. He doesn’t move when the guards come in the next morning, to give him food. A letter is sent out to Aberforth asking if he want’s to take Albus. He sends an answer back saying yes. Albus is told a week after the reply was received, and he gets up slowly, gaze lingering on the cell, before following the guards out. 

Albus doesn’t remember leaving the prison, or getting to his brother’s house. He remembers his brother sitting him down on a chair and passing him a mug of warm liquid. “It’s tea” his brother tells him, making sure to be quiet as Albus absorbs everything. He takes a sip of the tea a while later, the bitter taste jolting him into moving. “Thank you” he tells his brother. His brother just nods. “Do you want to go for a walk?” he asks half an hour later. Albus smiles and nods, the warm spring air a nice change from the air of the prison.

That night he dreams of the life he thought he had. He tells his brother the next morning he wants help. His brother nods, and asks Albus to talk to him. Hours later, and several cups of tea later, Albus finishes the story. Aberforth doesn’t say much, just grabs another cup of tea. 

It’s two years later when Aberforth is attending his brother’s funeral that he talks to Elphias, both of them glad to have the other as company. They mourn Albus together, the man whose life was all a dream, and the man who could have been. They write a letter together, and send it to Gellert Grindelwald, like Albus had asked for.

Hundreds of miles away Gellert Grindelwald reads a letter sent to him. He remembers the boy he met all those years ago, whose eyes shone with brilliance. He can’t compare the memory to the man the letter describes. Part of him feels guilty for never seeing what happened to Albus, but at the same time he can’t help thinking history would be very different if he had. He sends a letter back, the polite thing, but doesn’t dwell on the man who he had met once.


End file.
